sacrifice
by Infamousplot
Summary: Week 2. Day 7. The battle with Sho, the final moment, Yeshua thrusting himself upon the cross to save the precious proxy. Week 2, the seventh day, the "noble sacrifice"- through the eyes of a self-destructively unstable demigod.


This battle was a lot tougher than Joshua had thought it would be.

He and Neku are trying to catch their breaths, trying to slow their undead hearts, and Joshua cannot take his eyes off Minamimoto. He _won't_ is more accurate, actually, because he knows Sho better than just about anyone, and if there's one thing Sho never does it's give up after just one try. Sho always has some sort of back up. The lapse between plans A and plans B tends to vary, though.

Sho isn't done yet. Joshua knows it, feels it in his veins. Because nothing is ever simple for Joshua Kiryu: there always needs to be some unforeseen difficulty, something to test his resourcefulness- and recently,Sho has taken that role to new levels. So if Sho is not erased, and neither are they, then of course he's going to do something. The only question is what?

"Hah... you two are zetta persistent," the Grim Heaper laughs, but it sounds more like a gasp. He covers his mouth with his arm, tries to hide his fatigue. Joshua smirks and straightens his posture.

"Aww, what's wrong?" he pouts in mock sympathy, distance the only thing keeping him safe from Sho's clutches. Taboo has made him even stronger than usual. He'd tossed Josh around like a rag doll in his Noise form. "I thought you were going to erase us at the speed of light?" he cocks his head, expecting fury, irritation at the least. Sho does not react with anger though. Not even a little bit of spite. Instead, Sho smiles. He grins- wicked, like an animal, like a predator.

Suddenly, Sho starts to laugh. He throws his head back and he _cackles_, breathless and gleeful- the laugh of a victor. Joshua is tense. Here it comes, plan B.

A long stream of numbers comes from Sho's mouth, blurring together as he speaks faster and faster, volume increasing the longer he goes.

"What the hell?!" Neku shouts, but Joshua isn't sure who he is addressing.

_3.14. He's reciting Pi, but why?_ Joshua knows Sho is not a rational person and most of his actions are hard to figure out, but even Sho is not this convinced in his own supremacy. Something is happening. Something bad.

The ground beneath them begins to quake, and Joshua cannot tell if it's the actual city or just the building itself.

"The world's made up of numbers!" Sho screams. "I've been reverse-engineering my desired solution all along!" The thrilled grin disappears, warps into a vicious snarl as Sho haunches over. "_And here it is!_"

And then, just like that, Joshua understands. What he's trying to do. What he's been trying to do all along. A blinding light appears at Sho's core, expanding with all the brightness and heat of a supernova. Joshua swears in his head, manages to shout out above the roar.

"Watch out! That's psyche's a level _i_ flare!" Joshua spits the words out like they're curses, and they might as well be. This can't be happening, he's gotten so _far!_ It had honestly seemed like he was going to win, and with a week to spare! If not for Sho... go figure. If it's not one thing it's another.

"_I am victorious!"_ Sho screams, throwing his head back again, energy forming inside of him, tearing out. A blast of pure white flies at them and Joshua's mind races, tries to think of a solution. Beside him, Neku clamps his hands down on his headphones, eyes squeezed shut. Joshua can sense his fear, his anguish, the disappointment crushing him.

"Nowhere to run," he shouts, his voice the very essence of defeat. What a quitter. Even with something worth fighting for, he can't bring himself to think on his toes. Why did Josh pick him as his proxy again?

Joshua just smirks though, because he's got it all figured out now, knows exactly what to do- because his dear, dear partner is right. There's nowhere to run for _him_, but for Joshua? That's another story completely.

It'll take precision- the timing and position must be perfect, because if it's off by even a little, he's going to end up fried. He was never very good at controlling his frequency. If he tries, he'll probably wind up in oblivion, with Hanekoma and Kitanji shouting 'I told you so!' into the abyss after him. But if he doesn't he and Neku are both going to die anyway, so why not give it a go, because fuck, you never know if you don't try- and to be quite honest, Joshua can't quite see what he has to lose.

He steps forward quickly and deliberately, shoving Neku back hard. Neku lets out a shout, and Josh feels his fingers slip as they grasp at his arm, try to save him from the fall. It's a tall building, but he'll survive. Gravity's really more of a guideline for the dead, anyway.

Joshua throws his arms out wide and looks back at Neku, the gears in his mind whirring violently fast behind calm violet eyes.

"But Neku, I thought you couldn't _afford _to lose." he calls. Neku is falling, and Joshua can't decide if the world feels like it's moving a million miles per hour or in slow motion. Neku is shouting. He's saying something, but Josh can't hear him over the roar of Sho and his own thoughts.

_Adjust your vibe in 3..._ he sees Neku's mouth shape his name and he turns away, doesn't care to look any more. He's going to laugh about this someday. If he survives.

_2..._

"Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world." he says loudly, and now he's glad he's not looking at Neku, because he isn't sure his face is quite as straight and smug as he wants it to be.

_Now._

The blaze dances mere millimeters from his skin, licks it, cackles and tries to grab him just as he sinks below the RG, into a more familiar form. The flare touches him, places its hands on his chest for only a second as he falls into autopilot. He flicks the switches in his brain and flickers into static, leaps away from this world and into another.

Joshua's eyes are closed, because he doesn't want to see Sho's face, doesn't want to look him in the eyes- those beady, yellow eyes. There is heat all around him, like he is being roasted alive, but he smiles and he lets it burn, because it's all in his head. There is no fire. The flare didn't hit. He is flying through space. Vibes ripple through him and glorious symphonies scream at him from every direction. And there's heat, and there's dark, and he made it he's not going to die (like t would have made a difference if he had).

And he can still hear Shibuya's music, pulling on him like a tether, and he can still feel the heat, no matter how far he flies.

And he can still see the stupid look on his proxy's face as he fell, and the way his mouth moved as he screamed his name, _Joshua-_

-and he is alive.


End file.
